Mint chocolate chip ice cream

It is time for an ‘ice cream’ recipe. I’m a massive fan of chocolate and mint, so what could be better than mint chocolate chip ice cream! This one is smooth, minty and creamy – yum!

Just a couple of notes before you are even thinking about swapping ingredients…. (I am sure you know the feeling of finding a recipe you want to try but are missing an ingredient or two and therefore swap with something else). I was going to make some with young coconut meat (I’ve seen a recipe somewhere with that), but since there was nowhere to get a hold of it, I grabbed a regular (who-knows-how-old-it-is) coconut from my local supermarket and spent ages getting the meat out (which is not easy when it’s hard – young coconut meat is soft and scoop-able). However, let me just say, that was edible but not pleasant enough to eat more of. Then I tried coconut milk and decided it was too ‘soupy’. Third time is the charm it seems though. Coconut cream and banana did the trick!

VEGAN – GLUTEN FREE – LOW FRUCTOSE – PALM OIL FREE

Ingredients:

Makes approximately 1 litre of ice cream.

2 cans of full-fat coconut cream (400ml)

150 grams of glucose syrup (liquid glucose) (or 100 grams of dextrose as in the photo below, but it is nowhere near as smooth and soft)

1 banana, just ripe enough to eat but not gone spotty yet

2 large handfuls of fresh baby spinach (to give it its green color)

2 tsp of mint essence

Chocolate chips (make your own or try my fudgy chocolate or white chocolate – I make a big batch and store it in the freezer for moments like this 🙂 )

Directions:

Pour all the ingredients into the food processor and set at high speed until completely smooth (or as much as you want). I blended in-between but no need to.

Then, you pour the mixture into your ice-cream maker for about 25 min. 5 minutes before time is up, add your chocolate chips and then pop into a container to set in the freezer for at least an hour. This recipe keeps okay in the freezer (it doesn’t go totally hard due to the fat in the coconut, you just need to de-frost it for 15-30 minutes before digging in) but it definitely best if eaten straight away. Enjoy!

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Comments

YUM! What a fantastically healthy way to enjoy a choc mint fix! Love it! Could I add in mint leaves instead (or as well as) the spinach in the ice cream mixture? I am a huge mint fiend so I reckon I’d enjoy the kick. Thanks for this gorgeous recipe! xx

Thanks Laura. Yes I’m sure you could use mint leaves, but probably just need to adjust the amounts to your liking. I think fresh mint usually is heated up with cream in traditional recipes to infuse it but if you like the taste of the leaves fresh and want to keep it raw, I am sure it would be perfect 🙂 cx

Hi Karey – so happy that you liked it 🙂 Well, if none of it made it into the freezer, at least you don’t have to feel bad about it as it’s healthy 😀 (I had the same problem, probably ate at least half of it before it hit the freezer lol)

What a lovely recipe. If it tastes half as refreshing as it looks it must be quite wonderful. For the longest time I always got chocolate ice cream but when I expanded my horizons I have to say mint is one of my fave ice cream flavors. Yummy!

Thank you 😀 It is very refreshing indeed and not heavy at all but still creamy and minty! I can understand your chocolate preference, I still choose chocolate over most other flavors when it comes down to it 😉

Reblogged this on Honk If You're Vegan and commented:
I love mint chip ice cream, but I haven’t had it since going vegan. I think I’ll be having it soon, however; because this recipe is vegan, gluten-free and has spinach in it. It also has my mouth watering!!

Thanks so much. Yes I love mint choc chip too, my favorite right after chocolate 🙂 Please let me know what you think if you make it. The banana just give it a subtle texture difference and taste which I really like. cx

So pleased I found you and that you are a kiwi! I am obese and have just decided to go sugar free gave all my sugar products to my mother in law yesterday and going yo buy my first lot of dextrose tomorrow.

Awesome! Well done for making the choice, I hope you will feel the difference soon. And don’t worry if the first 2-4 weeks are hard, your body is ridding itself of an addiction after all 🙂 Welcome to the sugar-free community!

Yes I know it will be tough I gave up coke zero in May (I dont drink coffee coffee either) and that was terrible with bad headaches and feeling crappy. I was having 2-3 cans a day now we dont have fizzy in the house and I will have a lemon lime and bitters if I go out not sure what to subsitute with that now? Is it better to have sprite zero just those odd times (maybe once or twice a month) or the normal stuff?

Well done! I had a Coke Zero addiction too and it’s bloody hard to get rid of as it’s got both caffeine and phenylalanine in it (they sure know how to keep people buying their product).

This is going to sound really boring, but water is by far the best choice to sub for. Yes, it may be boring, but if you are going out you could ask for sparkling water with a couple of slices of lemon/lime in it, or when in season, strawberries or whatever is your favourite. If we are going to a party/ dinner at friends I sometimes get a pretty bottle of Waiwera water and jazz it up in that way too.

If you need to choose between the regular sugar version and Sprite Zero (I remember looking on the label of a bottle recently and phenylalanine is the sweetener) I’d choose the zero version, but only if it’s not very often as you mention and you haven’t got Phenylketonuria or any mental health disorders.